Groundbreaking for the new facility is tentatively scheduled for late 2024 or early 2025, though the exact timing will turn on both the environmental impact statement process and on congressional appropriations.
Citing in part the work of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, USGS Director David Applegate pushed ahead with plans to seek the accreditation for the agency’s National Wildlife Health Center.
A 2017 PEER scientific integrity complaint against the Madison lab alleged animal care deficiencies and breaches of biosecurity. The complaint said the health center needed to be subjected to routine, independent inspections to restore the “scientific integrity” of its core mission.